Become a mathematical genius thanks to brain damage

Almost everyone was surprised to know that the cause of Jason Padgett's turn from a normal man to a mathematical genius is . brain damage.

12 years ago, Jason Padgett, 31 years old in Tacoma, Washington state, USA is just an ordinary man, likes to gather friends and party. After dropping out of college halfway, Padgett works for a shop selling his father's furniture.

It all started on September 13, 2002, when Padgett left a karaoke bar near his home and was attacked from behind. Two strange men hit several of the backs of Padgett's head until he lost consciousness.

At the hospital, Padgett was treated to bruising one side of the kidney and was sent home that same evening. The next morning, he woke up to find that the vision had changed, with the details never before seen before.

When he opened the faucet in the bathroom, he observed that the jet of water shot out perpendicular to the flow. Initially, Padgett thought he was dizzy and worried, but then stood still in place because he found them so beautiful. He began to have an unusual passion, obsessed with mathematics and physics.

Jason Padgett and a marvelous fractal design of him

Padgett stopped working and spent all his time studying mathematics as well as physics, focusing on nearly identical or repetitive geometric structures called fractals . Although he has never revealed his previous artistic talent, he began drawing extremely detailed fractal designs and took weeks to complete them.

However, it is also the weakness of new talents that appear in Padgett. Once a very open-minded, sociable person, he became a self-contained person who liked to spend all his time at home, covering his windows with blankets and refusing visitors.

Padgett also became obsessed with germs and washed his hands continuously until they were flushed. He won't even kiss his daughter until she washes her hands well.

Padgett and his relatives thought he might be crazy. However, hope flashed after he saw a documentary about an autistic scientist named Daniel Tammet. Padgett went to see Dr. Darold Treffert, a leading expert in genius, who diagnosed him with signs of "learned syndrome" . Currently only 40 people in the world are diagnosed with this syndrome, making them smarter after a brain injury.

Padgett had a better understanding of his situation when he came to the Netherlands to see Dr. Berit Brogaard. Results of magnetic resonance imaging, brain survey revealed, on the left side of Padgett's brain, especially the left parietal lobe, the place of residence of mathematics, were more active than usual. Perhaps, after brain damage, neurotransmitters signaled to Padgett's left brain area and eventually changed the brain structure, making him "very good".

In order to promote the new possibilities, Padgett was determined to go to university. In his newly published memoir, Padgett believes in him as an example, that everyone is a potential untreated genius.